A-bomb survivor urges compassion for Fukushima victims

Updated
March 11, 2013 08:18:00

On the second anniversary of the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima, more than 150,000 people are still living in temporary shelters, and can't return home. But the survivors are also dealing with discrimination because of perceptions that they've been exposed to radiation. One man, a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, who experienced the same kind of prejudice wants his countrymen to show more compassion to the people of Fukushima.

TIM PALMER: Two years after the meltdowns at Fukushima, more than 150,000 people remain in what were supposed to be "temporary" shelters, unable to return home.

Being stuck in that limbo isn't the only challenge they face; there's discrimination against people perceived to have been exposed to radiation.

One man, in an almost unique position as a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, knows the sting of such prejudice and he's calling on his countrymen to show more compassion to the people of Fukushima.

North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy reports from Hiroshima.

(Sound of a small bell ringing)

MARK WILLACY: Kneeling before an altar in his living room Tetsuo Imamichi drapes some prayer beads over his clasped hands, shuts his eyes and bows his head.

It's been 68 years since an American B-29 bomber flew high and silently over this city. But Tetsuo Imamichi remembers that morning like it was yesterday.

TETSUO IMAMICHI (translated): I was taking care of my two little brothers at home, making their breakfast and washing up.

Suddenly there was a blue and white flash and a huge boom. The windows shattered and all the furniture went flying. One of my brothers was blown out into the garden. I found the other one in a closet.

MARK WILLACY: Nine year old Tetsuo Imamichi had survived, even though they were just a few kilometres from the centre of the atomic blast.

Arriving home, the boys' mother gathered up the family and put them on a train to her home town - Nagasaki.

TETSUO IMAMICHI (translated): As we approached Nagasaki the train stopped. They'd just dropped the bomb. We saw people on fire and people dying.

Then my five year old brother got sick so we took him to the hospital. As the doctor was seeing him, my brother took a deep breath and he died without saying a word.

MARK WILLACY: When the bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" levelled Nagasaki, Tetsuo Imamichi was just 3.5 kilometres from the blast.

Now 77, the retired cab driver is just one of a couple of dozen people who've been confirmed as double atomic bomb survivors.

But like most, Tetsuo Imamichi never spoke about his terrible experiences. But that changed when the reactors at Fukushima melted down two years ago.

TETSUO IMAMICHI (translated): There are bad rumours about Fukushima and they won't go away. I worry the people of Fukushima will be discriminated against, just like we were.

I have a reunion with survivors every year and one of my friends says she could never marry because people said she would only produce children who were deformed and disfigured.

MARK WILLACY: In the two years since the Fukushima disaster there have been reports of evacuees being discriminated against because of their possible exposure.

Even a government minister was forced to resign after joking to reporters after a visit to the plant that he was radioactive and would give them radiation.

For the 154,000 Fukushima people still living in so-called temporary homes two years on from the meltdowns, there's certainly nothing to laugh at.

(Sound of small bell ringing)

And for atomic bomb survivors like Tetsuo Imamichi, he can offer them only his wisdom and his prayers.